Lewis Hamilton believes the communication within Mercedes has been strongest off-late which has helped in the outfit’s recent success in Formula 1.
Even though Ferrari seems to have caught up with Mercedes in the engine development, the Italian manufacturer finds itself 37 points down in the constructors’ championship with Sebastian Vettel down by 40 points to Hamilton after 15 races.
One of the highlights for Mercedes in 2018 has been their teamwork along with the car which is capable to win races. Even on weekend where they have struggled slightly to Ferrari, they have managed to topple their rivals.
While Valtteri Bottas has played a good hand, Hamilton has been supreme with his driving to keep himself and Mercedes ahead of the game with six races to go. The British driver hails the communication within the squad for the success it has had.
“It’s just great teamwork, very very diligent engineering,” he said. “The guys obviously back at the car, we’re constantly learning about the car and refining it but we’re bring out upgrades every now and then.
“It’s pretty much the same times as they [Ferrari] bring theirs, but it’s more understanding the tyres, it’s more getting more comfortable with hitting the nail on the head with the balance of the car and really just eking out each little bit and each weekend we’re got incredible communications.
“The debriefs are really really solid, there’s a lot of direction that comes from the debriefs. I give quite long debriefs nowadays and we work to the point that we leave no stone unturned, there’s not a single stone unturned each weekend that we arrive.
“It’s a real collective, it’s just the strongest the team has ever been in terms of how we communicate. We’ve got great people in the team, both at the factory and here and it’s a real privilege to work with everyone and also we’re all so comfortable with each other and there’s a huge confidence within the organisation.
“In terms of my driving, I have these others things that I do outside which are stimulating. I know there were questions at the beginning of the [Singapore] week whether it is distracting and naturally you come here and if I put one foot wrong, people are going to point to the things that I do outside as a result of it.
“You can see, it doesn’t affect my performance and if anything those things they add to the performance really. Healthwise, I’m super healthy. As I said, I went on a plant-based diet last year – here, actually, I started here last year – and it’s been the best year of my life physically,” the four-time champion explained.
Hamilton also regarded his race engineer Pete Bonnington for all the support in the races, helping him to eke out the best result possible. “I’ve had Bono by my side my whole time here at this team and you can hear our rapport when we’re in a race,” he said.